This group of Indians consisted of approximately forty different tribelets ranging in size from 100-250 members, and was scattered throughout the various ecological regions of the greater Bay Area (Kroeber, 1953).

In 1841, Indians from Tulare and Sacramento came as a regular cinnabar expedition to the quarry and one of the intruders was killed by the Santa Clara Ohlones.

Ohlone culture is seen in this ethnographic sketch as a world in which the people had a close physical and psychological bond to the environment and to the customs of a small society.

The OhloneIndians were an Indian tribe that lived in the Bay Area before the Europeans arrived.

The OhloneIndians were sedentary, but moved to different areas for things like an acorn harvest, which needed the whole tribe to help with.

The tools that the OhloneIndians used were bows and arrows for hunting, which were made of yew, and the bowstrings were made of sinew or vegetable fiber.

www.belmont.gov /subContent.asp?CatId=240001203 (724 words)

Who We Are(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

The California Indian Museum will tell this story, because it is a story that just may untie us from the bonds of racism and hatred, and may give the children of California and the world an opportunity to appreciate and respect each other.

The purpose of the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center is to culturally enrich and benefit the people of California and the general public.

The goals of the Museum and Cultural Center are to educate the public about California Indian history and cultures, to showcase California Indian cultures, to enhance and facilitate these cultures and traditions through educational and cultural activities, to preserve and protect California Indian cultural and intellectual properties, and to develop relationships with other indigenous groups.

cimcc.indian.com /who.htm (572 words)

Ohlone Indians(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

The OhloneIndians refer to the native Californians who inhabited the San Francisco and Monterey Bay area prior to thearrival of the Europeans.

The Ohlones were a bioregional group sharing a common linguistic backgroundrather than an organized tribe.

The Ohlones spoke related languages in the Penutianlinguistic family that were about as close as the languages of the Romance family,i.e.

Accounts of the first contacts between the Spanish and the Ohlone recount that the natives were "amazed and confused," but upon perceiving they were not in any apparent danger, they became excited at the prospect of interacting with the strangers, bringing gifts and sending for their friends and family to come.

The claims of the Indians came long before those of Mexican, Spanish, and Americans, but the Indians were unaware of the act or what it meant to them and the state refused to perform its legal duty and file on their behalf.

Unfortunately because the Ohlone are not recognized by the federal government as a tribe, they are not eligible to take out loans in order to improve their situation because they do not have a legal title to their land on the allotments.

In simplistic terms, it appears in general that the Ohlone attitude towards the presence of strangers entering their territories was divided into two general considerations: strangers were considered as either enemies (and/or other powerful forces that could cause harm), or as distinguished visiting guests.

During the mid-19th century, as the rest of the central California Indian tribal groups were displaced and, at times, hunted down, Alisal (located near Pleasanton) as well as the other rancherias, became safe-havens for the Muwekma OhloneIndians and members from the neighboring interior tribes who had intermarried with them at the missions.

The Ohlone people have left a record of approximately 13,000 years of human history, and today they are still trying to overcome the onus of their sentence of "extinction" placed upon them by scholars, politicians, and anti-Indian activists, by continuing to educate the general public, academic institutions and the Federal Government through the historic record.

www.islaiscreek.org /ohlonehistcultfedrecog.html (3804 words)

Learning about the Ohlone Indians(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

It was interesting to learn about the many different animals, plants and trees that live in the area and how the Ohlone made use of these resources in their everyday lives.

This is an assortment of different kinds of foods, nuts, berries, and spices used by the OhloneIndians.

Our guide is showing us how the OhloneIndian men would use the piece of bone to scrape their skin after getting out of the sweat house.

During the mid-19th century, as the rest of the central California Indians were displaced and at times hunted down, Alisal (located near Pleasanton) as well as the other rancherias became safe-havens for the Muwekma OhloneIndians and members from the interior tribes who had intermarried with them at the missions.

During the early part of this century, the Muwekma OhloneIndians (later known as the Verona Band) became Federally Recognized as a result of the Special Indian census conducted by Agent C. Kelsey in 1905-1906 and the ensuing Congressional appropriation bills of 1906 and 1908 addressing the purchase of homesites for landless California Indians.

The Ohlone people have left a record of approximately 13,000 years of human history, and today they are trying to overcome the onus of their sentence of "extinction" by continuing to educate the general public, academic institutions and the Federal Government.

"OhloneIndians are still alive and continue to live in the Bay Area," Matlock said.

An archaeologist slipped in between bites to recover the remains of 700 Ohlone, which are still in storage at UC Berkeley.

But Katherine Perez of Stockton, who is one-quarter Ohlone, has been designated the "most likely descendant." She has served in that role under a state law requiring land users to tread lightly on American Indian archaeological sites.

Historically, the OhloneIndians were the first documented inhabitants of the Santa Clara Valley region, although the oak lined hills and valley undoubtedly had known earlier Indian inhabitants and migrations, now lost to history and prehistory.

Aside from the Ohlone, who were considered a Coatanoan tribe, the Yokut people dwelt to the east in modern Contra Costa and San Joaquin counties.

We were welcomed by the Indians of the village, whom I estimated at some four hundred persons, with singular demonstrations of joy,singing, and dancing.

www.cr.nps.gov /nr/travel/santaclara/history.htm (2145 words)

Castro Valley--Ohlone(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

Ohlone culture was as rich as any other with its own food, crafts, music and games.

Ohlone men wore their most elaborate body paint and feathers for dances.

An early European explorer made this drawing of Ohlone in a tule boat on the San Francisco Bay in the year 1816.

www.haywardareahistory.org /ohlone.html (781 words)

Vizcaíno's Account of the Ohlone(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

Their food consists of seeds which they have in abundance and variety and of the flesh of game, such as deer which are larger than cows, and bear....

The Indians are of good stature and fair complexion, the women being somewhat less in size than the men and of pleasing countenance.

The clothing of the people of the coast consists of the skins of the sea-wolves abounding there, which they tan and dress better than is done in Castile; they possess also, in great quantity, flax like that of Castile, hemp and cotton, from which they make fishing-lines and nets for rabbits and hares.

The Augustine Reservation of Cahuilla Indians is a one-square mile tract of land, about 500 acres, in the lower Coachella valley, in Riverside County, southern California, near the community of Thermal.

A federal reservation of Western Mono Indians in Fresno County, in the foothills of the Sierras, near the town of Tollhouse.

Colonies are such as the Bridgeport Paiute Indian Colony, the Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians, and the Woodfords Indian Colony.

The OhloneIndians were only one of many of the Coastanoan tribes (coast people) that lived thousands of years ago.

The Ohlone were called hunters and gatherers because they used natural resources found around where they lived.

This was put into a basket with hot rocks and mixed to make hot must which the Indians ate with their hands.

www1.pvsd.net /PortolaValleyHistory/ohlone.htm (454 words)

[No title](Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

The Ohlone and friends got together to build a tule canoe and launch it on Lake Merced in San Francisco in August of 2003. Check out the pictures of materials and the work involved.

Chitactac Park is a truly remarkable site, for it has managed to survive all of the many land development pressures of the Bay Area. Kids of all ages love to view the rocks, the petroglyphs, the creek, the ancient oaks, and interpretive areas. Off Highway 101 in Santa Clara County.

An excellent illustrated introduction to the Ohlone of the Bay Area, from thousands of years ago to the present. Suitable for younger as well as older students. Includes pictures and illustrations.

Examination of attitudes held by Ohlone and other Native Americans towards the desecration of their sacred sites by development and archaeologists.

Gamman, John K. "The OhloneIndians - People of the West: Their Use of Natural Resources." Student Paper no. ES 144 N, in possession of Department of Special Collections, McHenry Library, University of California Santa Cruz.

www.santacruzpl.org /history/spanish/affbib.shtml (1220 words)

Links about the Ohlone Indians(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-15)

Follow this link for information about OhloneIndians and a planned museum at the Presidio of San Francisco.

On the other side of the Bay, in Emeryville (next to Oakland), the site of the Ohlone's ancient shellmound (a burial and living area) has recently been taken over and developed into a shopping mall.

Third and fourth grade curricula mandate that local and state history be taught, and that it include the Indians.

The Indian Village Tour - Any group older than the fourth grade level is scheduled for a 2- 2 1/2 hour tour to an archaeological site in the park which has reconstructions of different types of shelters used by Central California Indians weather permitting.

Following a similar introduction to our OhloneIndians, the group is divided in half for the half mile walk to the village site.